The newspaper for English language and international education

Vocation, innovation, integration

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Created: Tuesday, 16 April 2013 08:20

Daniela Nuredini on how Albania is upgrading ICT and English teaching

Albania is working towards EU membership and needs to modernise. Current reforms include a focus on the economy and the labour market, which have a significant influence on the country’s objectives, education methodology and infrastructure. In response to the changing requirements of the future workforce, public education in the Republic of Albania has been restructuring to adapt to technological changes and innovations.

Turkish teachers team up for ELT Blogathon

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Created: Tuesday, 16 April 2013 08:16

Jason Price writes

Turkey is an acknowledged superpower in the ELT blogosphere, with a growing band of Turkish bloggers winning plaudits and celebrity status among the global ELT digital community. As well as establishing names for themselves, these bloggers have created a genuine and autonomous learning spaces going some way towards meeting teachers’ professional development needs.

Educating under fire

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Created: Tuesday, 16 April 2013 08:11

Andrew Foster on why children in a war zone need lessons to be fun

About half of Gaza’s children are refugees attending schools run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). The shortage of school buildings and the need to ensure every child has a place means schools operate two shifts a day. The educational context is made even more complex by the ongoing conflict, which makes maintaining teacher development a real challenge. UNRWA, which supervises the education of Palestinian refugees in the region, has the difficult task of ensuring teachers and supervisors have ongoing professional development.

Moroccan grads find English vital to secure a job

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Created: Tuesday, 16 April 2013 08:14

Nick Cherkas writesGraduate unemployment in Morocco is one of the biggest challenges facing the country. A staggering one in four of those unemployed has a degree, with the lack of English language skills identified as a clear factor in a country where, according to Euromonitor, nine out of ten job adverts require candidates to demonstrate an intermediate level of English. The report also highlights that only 7 per cent of employers provide English training for staff. So English proficiency is clearly vital for graduates entering work.

Mena Facebook phenomenon

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Created: Monday, 01 April 2013 15:44

Anmber Siddiqui describes how the British Council is using the social networking site to boost effectiveness of the region’s language learning

The British Council’s Learn English Mena Facebook page is revolutionising English language learning across the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region and attracting more than 10,000 new fans every week. The Facebook page, specifically tailored to learners aged 18–35, is exceeding all expectations. It now has more than one million fans, an increase of over 200 per cent in less than eighteen months, and ranks 33rd in Social Watch List’s top Mena Facebook pages.

The page takes learning out of the classroom and into the social media world, and is part of a wider plan to engage learners and start to change attitudes and empower individuals to learn independently. It aims to draw learners into the wealth of interactive self-study materials the British Council has to offer and demonstrate how learning alone – or with virtual friends – can be fun and effective.